Portland observer., March 18, 1992, Page 2, Image 2

Page 2...The Portland Observer... March 18,1992
CIVIL RIGHTS JOURNAL p c T S D C C t i v C S
By Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr.
I
Onward to UNCED: The Demand for
Environmental Justice
In June 1992, leaders from over
one hundred and fifty nations will gather
in Brazil for the United Nations Confer­
ence on Environment and Develop­
ment (UNCED)> This unprecedented
global gathering offers a clear sign to
all of us that there is a growing realiza­
tion on the part of governments that we
must attend to protecting the ecological
balance of the planet before it is too
late. The final negotiations leading up
to the UNCED will take place in New
York this spring.
One of the goals of UNCED is to
facilitate an international mobilization
to redress the world’s increasing envi­
ronmental and economic crises. Heads
of state and other high government
officials from a majority of the nations
of the world will be gathered together
for this important conference. In addi­
tion, there will be thousands of repre­
sentatives of non-governmental orga­
nizations, grassroots representatives,
and environmental and social justice
activists from throughout the world.
Yet, as the final preparatory activi­
ties are now being planned and imple­
mented, it appears to many that the
government of the United States in
particular is not making UNCED a high
priority. Once again, it appears that the
politics of the White House views is­
sues concerning the environment and
the related issue of economic develop­
ment as cannon fodder in the partisan
war between the Republican and Demo­
cratic parties. Of course, the very rea­
son for the convening of UNCED is to
raise the importance of the environ­
ment above the internal political agen-
das of the participating nations and
governments.
The
truth
is
the
Bush
Administration’s record on environmen­
tal protection exhibits a greater interest
in protecting the perceived needs and
agendas of America’s polluting indus­
tries than protecting the environment
from further degradation. In addition.
President Bush seems to believe in the
immoral juxtaposition of a safe envi­
ronment againsteconomic recovery and
development.
It is true that in a time of extreme
economic recession, there is a tendency
to triage other soc ial interests. The prob­
lem is that the destruction of the vital
ecological equilibrium of our planet
has nearly reached an irreversible crisis
stage. Any further triage of the global
environment will prevent not only long
term economic development by the
nations of the world but more impor­
tantly the very existence of humanity is
itself now threatened. For example, the
recent climate negotiations exposed the
contradiction of the United States at­
tempting to stonewall any real progress
by being the only dissenting vote, 139-
1, on a binding international conven­
tion to protect the ozone layer from
further destruction.
The good news is there is in fact a
new movement emerging across the
United States in urban and rural com­
munities. The name of this new move­
ment is the Environmental Justice
Movement, which is am ultiracial,
multicultural, multilingual grassroots
environmental movement with the ca­
pacity to translate a new national politi-
cal will in the United States on the issue
of the environment. This new move­
ment, as thousands of new coalitions are
being networked, has international im­
plications. Representatives o f the Envi­
ronmental Justice Movement are par­
ticipating in the Preparatory Committee
(PrepCom) to UNCED and are render­
ing an alternative voice to the inad­
equate responses of the Bush Adminis­
tration concerning the critical impor­
tance of the success of UNCED.
Like the Civil Rights Movement of
the 1960’s, the Environmental Justice
Movement of the 1990's is organizing
and mobilizing constituencies across the
lines of race, class and religion into a
potent social and moral force for change
in the United States. We note that last
fall The First National People of Color
Environmental Leadership Summit in
W ashington, D.C. attracted Native
American, African American, Latino
American and Asian Pacific American
leaders together with leaders of some of
the established national environmental
organizations to envision a broader and
stronger environmental movement.
UNCED will not be the end or the
beginning of the global environmental
movement, but it will be an important
step in the right direction toward de­
manding stronger accountability and
compliance with international covenants
to protect the environment and to pro­
mote sustainable development. Our role
is to demand that our government be on
the right side of history, i.e., on the side
of protecting the environment and de­
manding economic justice and environ­
mental justice for all.
> by Professor McKinley Burt
▼ ▼ ▼
▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼
▼ ▼
All That Glitters Is Not Gold
You know what’s really great read­
ers? That is to get phone calls and letters
from you that say, “Hey, such and such
was right on! ..keep up the good work.”
But, let me tell you something, there is
merit, too, in that old saying about
“imitation being the sincerest form of
flattery.”
As I ’ve noticed before-or as read­
ers have apprised m e-th e daily press
has, again, latched onto an important
issue of immediacy that I have intro­
duced. They have chosen to follow suit
with their own advocacy of the Com­
munity College as a way to go career-
wise in these days of educational uncer­
tainty. When I first presented this idea
a year ago (first time since the 1970’s)
I was greeted with some quite amazing-
-and even caustic comments. “How
could you, a university professor, dare
to make a case for an alternative route
when everyone is beating the drums for
a universal effort to get all minority
youth a four year college degree. ” Well,
all that glitters is not gold!
Let me put it this way. I said, “well,
well now” when last week the Portland
Oregonian described an Oregon State
University honors graduate who had
abandoned a two-year stint at six-dol-
lar-an-hour jobs for a two-year radio-
logic technology course at community
college-the lady will graduate this year
into a career that begins at $22,000 to
$25,000 a year. O f course, all entry-
level salaries are not that high but the
point is made. Would you accept
$18,000?
It was on February 26, this year,
that I made the following statement
here in the Portland Observer. “Educa­
tion and industry have finally admitted
to themselves that we are not going to
be financially or structurally able to get
all those millions of students into uni­
versities in time to produce a workforce
2000 that can compete with the world in
science and technology.” I went on to
say that “we are scrambling all over the
place trying to upgrade the skills of our
high school graduates or pushing our
community colleges to prepare to handle
a great surge in demand for two-year
technical degrees and in retraining
courses.”
Now, that article in the other news­
paper went on to describe a new video
series called “Career Blazers,” produced
by the Oregon Bureau of Labor and
Industries. Several Trailblazer players
participated in the making of the eight-
part series that describes the “post-high
school education required of chefs,
machinists, electricians, heavy equip­
ment operators, indoor and outside con­
struction workers anda variety of health­
care jobs.”
The latter category fits in very well
with my recent three-week series on
African Americans who have made
notable contributions in the field of
medicine. There was cited, of course,
those with a fu ll spectrum o f degrees,
bull would draw your attention again to
“Vivien T. Thomas, the Louisiana high
school graduate who became the Top
Surgical Technician in America (Feb-
ruary 26, 1992).”
As in most cases, I speak from an
experience-based perspective, from re­
ality, not speculation. During the years
of teaching and advising students at
Portland State University, I was able to
guide a number from an insurmount­
able economic barrier to graduation
from the four-year institution-into a
quite feasible and productive associate
degree in Technology at Portland Com­
munity College. They did not take the
route of hundreds of students each year
who drop out of the university, broke
and disgusted and with an unfocused
and unmarketable collection of hours
toward an undefined degree.
Of course, I came to this teaching
position from industry where I had
gained many years of experience in
technical crafts and trades before gain­
ing academic and administrative skills-
-from punch press operator to electrical
instrument technician. It is for this rea­
son that I am able to understand and
advance the realistic propositions that
are now being placed before us in an
effort to get our national priorities on
track.
Decades of deterioration and ne­
glect of our educational institutions and
processes cannot be reversed ovemighL
The “Year 2000” people are going to
have to wait a bit longer to achieve
“international parity.” First, we have a
score of remedial things to do-from
kindergarten to K12. And then, too,
there is the “economy” which must be
altered to afford it all.
Shoreline Is The First SRO Project In City
Congressional Checks “ Made In America” With Direct Link To Training And Jobs: Aim
Is To Help Homeless Become Self Sufficient
BY MCKINLEY BURT
». ■ •:
r'
1 . L 'i \r
■
•»/••
• .7
*¿ •' 2
America's congressional represen­
tatives have just provided the answer to
e / ’who is running the store?” They are--
Bfor themselves! And while they may
a not also have an inhouse bank with
d unlimited overdraw.privile.ges.you can
ii bet that U.S. senators maintain their
sjown bag of goodies,
a
The NewYorkTimes News Service
n suggests that this business of our con-
o gressmen bouncing checks by the thou-
e sands is “at one level, not serious at all,”
s but does observe that “being able to
C write ad checks without ever getting
b charged for it, and indeed, often with-
it out the checks bouncing, is something
y we taxpayers cannot do.” Tens of mil-
b lions o f us have m ade the same
ii obaservation and intend for a lot of
n heads to roll this fall.
Many of our more naive citizenry
I are becoming aware, for the first time,
t! that they have elected a great number of
incompetent, unresponsive and plain
dishonest charlatans to guard the na­
tional treasure. No thirty-second sound
bites on radio and television can repair
this damage-the pitiful excuses we have
'heard enab'ie us to understand the rea-
- sor. for the pitiable state of the economy
and the resulting social condition of the
masses. If we are to believe that these
people cannot balance a personal check-
book [if], then certainly they should
not be expected to handle the nation’s
finances.
That “Made in America” theme is
riding high at the top of the economic
hit parade, but will those who are newly
aw akened and d isillu sio n ed by
“rubbergate” recall that it is from the
retired ranks of these very same con­
gressmen that we got to many o f those
registered foreign agents who negoti­
ated all those lucrative American con­
tracts for the Japanese and other over­
seas firms? The rest of these patriot
hustlers have come mostly from the
ranks of former cabinet members, ad­
ministration officials and members of
prominent law firms having govern­
ment business.
Now, if that is difficult to under­
stand, then try this on for size. The very
same automakers who accompanied
President Bush on that obscene com­
edy of an expedition to Japan are now
trying to explain to the American me­
dia and public why they withheld the
statistics on the foreign content o f
“American” cars and replacement
p a rts- including Mexican assembly
costs (note that the administration is
pushing for a “fast track” escalation of
this scenario that will replace even
more American jobs).
Certainly, it is not promised that if
OREGON’S OLDEST AFRICAN AMERICAN PUBLICATION
Established in 1970
we replace most of our congressional
nerds come November, a new breed of
representatives will inhabit the legis­
lative halls and the public good and
interest will be pursued as never be­
fore. But, at least, we can send a
message that there isgoing to be an era
of accountability and responsibility.
At least for awhile. We all know that
the public soon forgets.
I think we can be a little selective,
however, in this “replacement pro­
cess.” We know very well what our
most compelling and critical needs
are. Let’s trot out and vote for success
models, even if we have to drag them
kicking, screaming and protesting to
the campaign circuit. (This, of course,
should be at every level of public
service, not just congress). We need
some experience-based actors on this
stage-from both the public and pri­
vate sectors there must be brought
forward those in the spheres of
eduction, science and industry who
can function beyond self-serving rheto­
ric and a tendency toward turpitude.
These are serious times, and this
is serious business. We need to enroll
our youth in our crusades, so that
early on they can leam what it is all
about-the body politic, the infrastruc­
ture, and, generally, the “way s of mice
and men” (and women, of course).
©Ip ^xrrtümù (Observer
Publisher
Alfred Henderson
Contributing Writers
McKinley Burt
Bill Barber
Sharon Camarda
Mattie Ann Callier-Spears
Operations Manager
Joyce Washington
Accounting Manager
Gary Ann Garnett
Production Staff
Dean Babb
Sharon Camarda
Gary Ann Garnett
Jennifer Johnson
Public Relations
T he P ortland O bserver
CAN BE SENT DIRECTLY TO
YOUR HOME ONLY
$25.00
PER YEAR.
Chuck Washington
Sales & Promotions
P lease
Tony Washington
fill out ,
ENCLOSE CHECK OR
The PORTLAND OBSERVER is
published weekly by
Exie Publishing Company, Inc.
4747 NE Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd.
Portland, Oregon 97211
503-288-0033 • Fax 288-0015
» • i ».
?.o-
»
r -’S
- •r. • r-A’
? y »??,
/?>,* • »• *
C
1.4;. r T-’ ..
Deadline for all submitted materials:
Articles: Monday, 5:00 pm-Ads: Tuesday, noon
POSTMASTER: Send A ddress Changes to : Portland O bserver, P.O. Box
The Portland Observer welcomes freelance submissions. Manuscripts and
photographs should be clearly labeled and will be returned if accompanied by a
self addressed envelope. All created design display ads become the sole property
of the newspaper and can not be used in other publications or personal usage,
without the written consent of the general manager, unless the client has
purchased the composition of such ad. © 1991 THE PORTLAND OBSERVER.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART WITHOUT
Subscriptions:$25.00 per year.
The Portland Observer-Oregon's Oldest African-American Publication-is a member
of the National Newspaper Association-Founded in 1885, and The National
Advertising Representative Amalgamated Publishers, Inc., New York, NY
b A <
and
M ail
to :
S ubscriptions
T he P ortland O bserver
P O Box 3 1 3 7
P ortland , O regon 9 72 08
3137, P ortland, OR 97208 Second class postage paid at Portland Oregon.
PERMISSION IS PROHIBITED.
íSV**-’*'’
*. -r ** *.
‘'•fz 4 ; ^
MONEY ORDER,
The newly-renovated Shoreline
Building, the 63-unit SRO (single-room
occupancy) project just completed by
the Downtown Housing Preservation
Partnership (DHPP), will be the first in
the City to establish a direct link be­
tween transitional housing and program s
with a strong focus on training and
employment.
The Shoreline, at 113 W. Burnside,
will draw most of its tenants from a pool
of homeless “job-ready” adults gradu­
ating from North Downtown shelters
and alcohol recovery programs. Case
management and employment services
will be provided at the Shoreline to
assist tenants in breaking the cycle of
homelessness and achieving self suffi­
ciency.
Tenants will progress from day
labor to permanent jobs and will remain
at the Shoreline until they have accu­
mulated savings to pay first month’s
rent and necessary deposits on perma­
nent housing. The average tenant will
stay at the Shoreline approximately nine
months.
The Shoreline is the second SRO
project to be completed by DHPP in
1992. The Sally McCracken Building
with 95 new SRO units for homeless
graduates of drug and alcohol recovery
programs opened in January.
“Through DHPP-which has won
national recognition for its innovative
approach to spurring the development
of low-income housing, Portland has
begun making real headway in its ef­
fo rts to ad d ress the trag ed y o f
homelessness,” said PDC Chairman
Douglas McGregor. “Just since the start
of the new year, w e’veopened 158new
SRO units to our neediest citizens-and
many more are planned.” PDC is the
City’s urban renewal, housing and eco­
nomic development agency.
Name
Address
city, State
zip-code
T hank Y ou F or R eading
T he P ortland O bserver
The Shoreline Building Lobby prior to renovation.
Labor Commissioner Roberts
Endorses School First Program
Today Labor Commissioner Mary
Wendy Roberts had a news conference
at the Old Spaghetti Factory to an­
nounce “School First,” a program that
implements several of the recommen­
dations set foith by the Child Labor
Task Force. School First is a voluntary
work authorization program that, for
the first time, formally involves parents
and schools, as well as employers, in
the process of regulating minors’ work
hours.
The Child Labor Task Force, ap­
pointed by Roberts, issued its report in
November 1991 recommending thatthe
commissioner consider a work authori­
zation program for teen workers and
that employers adopt voluntary em­
ployment guidelines aimed at improv­
ing youth work. At a news conference
A
m .-'1’
.-57
. ’•VA'--4
‘ s '- I. -“ t * 1.
•*'
’T ik
, 3»
■ -Mr 'J. ■
The Shoreline Building lobby after renovation.
The renovated Shoreline Building (113 W. Burnside) has 63 SRO units for homeless
"Job Ready" Adults. The renovation is a project of the Downtown Housing Preservation
Partnership whose partners include Central City Concern, Portland Development
Commission, Portland Metropolitan Chamber o f Commerce, and the Housing Authority
of Portland.
’ ■ V *
announcing the report, commissioner
Roberts issued a challenge to employer
groups and associations to work with
her to implement these recommenda­
tions.
Within a week, commissioner Rob-
erts and employer associations sat down
todiscuss implementation. School First
is the product of these discussions.
School First employers receive a
packet that includes a set of voluntary
guidelines, recommendations to make
the work experience more educational
for young people, a copy of child labor
laws and prohibited occupations, and
work authorization forms. The form
lists the employee’s duties, hours of
work and pay, and includes a sign-off
authorization from parents and the
school. This way, if for example a
student’s grades begin to fall, either a
parent or a school official can propose
modifications to the work schedule. It
is important to note, however, that this
voluntary system does not replace the
current work permit-employment cer­
tificate system required by law.
“ Today’s labor force is our adult
work force of the future - a work force
we all share the responsibility to nur­
ture,” said Roberts. “School First is an
important step in getting parents, em ­
ployers and school officials actively
involved in the work lives of our chil­
dren.”
WWW